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The Fruits of His Labor

October 3, 2017

In this post, the inventor of the Richie Brace talks about the unusual twist of fate that helped many patients.

Dr. Richie had accomplished his goal of developing a sports brace. The initial prototype was intended to treat athletic patients with ankle instability. At least, that was his goal.

“It was pure serendipity when a practitioner testing the prototype told me that he had dramatic results using the brace to treat posterior tibial tendon dysfunction (PTTD),” said Dr. Richie. He couldn’t believe the results. “I was astounded to learn this and tested the brace on a few patients of my own.”

He realized the tremendous potential of the brace to control severe deformities of the hindfoot and ankle. “It became clear during our initial testing that we were changing people’s lives in a profound way,” he said. Suddenly, he was restoring the mobility of severely disabled people. This became a life-changing experience for Dr. Richie and for everybody involved in the project.

“It was exciting to realize that this type of brace had never been used before and there was potential in the marketplace. I saw the opportunity to change the brace to expand its use and gain even better patient outcomes,” said Dr. Richie.

Inspired to help more people, Dr. Richie was driven to try new designs with different ankle joints and different designs of the footplate and limb uprights. “Our innovations and improvements were purely motivated by a commitment to improve patient outcome,” added Dr. Richie. “We did not have any serious competition at that time and our changes and improvements were not motivated by market pressure. Today, with our full line of Richie Braces, including the Richie AeroSpring, we continue to innovate based upon a quest to expand the clinical applications and effectiveness of the brace.”